Message #441223

[Gaffit]

Chapter 5

Rief woke in the morning to a bright flash that filled his vision. Rubbing his eyes against the light, Rief squinted to see the form of Thaum Cigruta standing before him, holding a ball of light to light the room.

“Stand up boy, there’s work to be done! Follow me.”

Rief sat up on his bed and pushed himself off, chasing after Thaum’s diminishing form, his eyes still partially blinded from his wake up call.

Thaum led Rief through the countless halls of the fortress until they entered a door that led into a sprawling courtyard somewhere in the middle of the castle, which seemed to Rief to be somehow bigger than the castle itself. Rief spied a sturdy wooden box near the door.

“This is where we’ll start your training,” Thaum announced.

“Training for what exactly?”

“Another time Rief, another time. Now then...” The wooden box levitated over to Thaum’s side. Opening it, Thaum revealed Rief’s familiar old shoes that he’d had for ages. “I’ve taken the liberty of making some modifications to your footwear, I hope you don’t mind,”. Thaum chucked the shoes at Rief who swiftly caught them. As he caught them, Rief felt magic flood into his veins, pouring into him more powerfully than any trinket he’d ever stolen. Rief put the shoes on his feet and felt the sweet embrace of magic hugging his legs.

“What did you do to them?” Rief asked in wonder.

“Well, one of the charms I added let’s you do this,” Thaum pulled an object out from within his robe. It looked like a miniaturized turret. Without hesitation, Thaum aimed the object at Rief and pulled the trigger. A bright flash shot forth from the gun as Rief threw up his arms in a fetal defense. After a couple moments, Rief realized that nothing was happening.

Literally nothing.

The sound of the wind had stopped, the wildlife was silent. Rief looked up to see a small silver ball heading towards him at a snail’s pace. As soon as Rief stepped out of the objects path the tree directly behind him shattered in  a shower of splinters. The sounds of the world were restored.

“I got rid of your bullet problem.” Thaum stated, smiling broadly at his own handiwork.

“You did what?” Rief asked incredulously.
“Your shoes can now put your reflexes and speed into a hyper-state. Normally you have to activate the magic manually, but I theorized that your experience with magical objects would allow you to do it on instinct.” Thaum answered.

“And what would have happened to me if your theory was wrong?”

“Then my poor tree would be just fine right now.”

“Ignoring that, this is incredible!” Rief said while admiring his shoes, “Easily the most impressive charm work I’ve ever seen. And you did it in one day?”

“Well I did have to put in an all-nighter... I’d be careful with your shoes for now though, they put something of a strain on your muscles. Your body has never been put into a hyper-state before and it’s not fully used to it.”

Rief did feel a sudden wave of fatigue wash over him. “How long do the effects last?” Rief asked.

“For now, you shouldn’t use the hyper-state too frequently, but eventually your muscles will become used to it and you’ll be able to enter a hyper-state at any time with no ill-effects. Eventually, you won’t even need the shoes. Now then, onto the second lesson for today.”

Thaum mentally pushed the box next to Rief.

“Stand on the box Rief.”

Rief climbed onto the box. It was about two feet high, and looked like a generic wooden box.

“Now jump up and down.” Thaum demanded

“You’re joking.”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life. Jump up and down. Now.” Thaum demanded again.

Rief began jumping up and down. “How long do I have to do this for?” Rief asked.

“Give it a second.”

“Give what a second?” Rief asked, still jumping up and down.

“Alright, you can stop. Now then, look down.”

Rief looked down only to realize that Thaum had mentally pushed the box three feet to his left. Rief was standing on thin air.

“Should I be worried?” Rief asked, still floating two feet above the ground.

“If you want to. Not much reason to be though. I made another modification to your shoes. You can fly now.”

“Fly?”

“Yes. Well, it’s more like hovering really...”

“At any time?”

“As long as you’re wearing the shoes, yes”

Rief hit the ground with a thump. “This is amazing!”

“Consider it an up front payment for the services you will be providing me. Rest assured that there is plenty more where that came from.”

“What more could I possibly need? With shoes that can let me run that fast and fly, I can’t imagine anything that can stop me”

“Trust me Rief. For what I’ll be needing done, you’re going to need more help than super-powered footwear for what lies ahead. Now then, I’ll leave you to your practices. Don’t try to escape though, you’ll just end up hitting an invisible wall about 200 feet up. We’ll continue with our next lesson tomorrow.”

Thaum opened the door leading back into the castle and took his leave.